Santa Barbara Municipal Airport

Santa Barbara's aviation history began in 1914 when Lincoln J. Beachey flew an airplane across Goleta Valley. Two years later the Loughead brothers, who later changed their name to Lockheed, established a seaplane factory on State Street (Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company) and constructed a wooden ramp on West Beach to launch their planes. In 1928, Gordon Sackett and Royce Stetson landed a Hisso-powered airplane in a cow pasture near the corner of Hollister and Fairview Avenues and set up a flight school on the spot. That first airstrip marked the beginning of what was to become the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport.

As airplane manufacturing grew in the late 1930s that airstrip developed into an airfield. Western General set up shop and began producing Meteor airplanes, while Santa Barbara Airways' founder Frederick Stearns II built two additional runways and two large hangars. Stearns also installed the first radio equipment at the airfield.[3]

Airline flights began in 1932 on Pacific Seaboard Air Lines. In 1933, Pacific Seaboard was operating two daily round trip flights with single engine Bellanca CH-300s Los Angeles - Santa Barbara - Santa Maria - San Luis Obispo - Paso Robles - Monterey - Salinas - San Jose - San Francisco.[4] Pacific Seaboard later moved its entire operation to the eastern U.S. and became Chicago and Southern Air Lines, a large domestic and international airline acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953.[5] United Airlines began flights from Santa Barbara/Goleta in 1936.

As war approached the United States Government established a program to build 250 airports across the country on a cost-sharing basis with local governments. Thomas M. Storke secured Santa Barbara's enrollment in the program, and in 1941 groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport.

With the outbreak of WWII the airport became MCAS Santa Barbara (Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara) in 1942, an aviator training base for the U.S Marines. It was expanded further with the addition of many hangars and other buildings, and reverted to a civilian airport in 1946.[6]

Original passenger terminal building

The original Spanish-style terminal building, commissioned by United Airlines in 1942 was designed by William Edwards and Joseph Plunkett, an architectural team whose work, including the Arlington Theatre and the National Armory, helped shape the Mediterranean style of the city.

In 1947 the Santa Barbara Flying Club was formed to promote general aviation in the region.[7]

In the 1951 war film Flying Leathernecks, John Wayne's character was stationed in Goleta. The movie references the airbase as being in Goleta because, during World War II, the airbase had not yet been annexed by Santa Barbara. The movie has a short clip of the airport and surrounding area.

Three runways are in use: 7/25 and two parallel runways 15/33. The airport originally had an additional strip: runway 3/21. The development of the University of California, Santa Barbara (to the southwest) and the construction of hangars in support of production of the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy (to the northeast) were factors in the removal of this runway.

United Airlines Airbus A319-100 at Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (KSBA) preparing to board passengers for a return flight to Denver International Airport (KDEN) on December 5th, 2019.

Passengers boarding an American Eagle Saab 340B turboprop aircraft for a flight to Los Angeles in October 2008

Until 2002, Santa Barbara Airport was on a jet route to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The airport was served by Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s and Martin 4-0-4s and by successors Pacific Air Lines, Air West and Hughes Airwest with Fairchild F-27s and Boeing 727-100, Douglas DC-9-10 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets. The Southwest March 1, 1947 timetable lists two round trip Douglas DC-3s flying Los Angeles-Oxnard-Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo-Coalinga-Monterey-Santa Cruz/Watsonville-San Jose-San Francisco. The first jets were Pacific Air Lines Boeing 727-100s in 1966; the January 4, 1967 timetable lists 727s flying San Francisco-Monterey-Santa Barbara-Los Angeles. Air West served the airport with the B727-100s formerly operated by Pacific Air Lines while Hughes Airwest served Santa Barbara with Douglas DC-9-10s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s.[8]

The United Airlines timetable for February 1, 1937 listed a daily Douglas DC-3 Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Francisco-Oakland and back. In 1972 the United timetable listed direct Boeing 727-100s to New York Newark via LAX and Milwaukee.[9] The primary United routes from Santa Barbara were nonstops to Los Angeles and San Francisco with some continuing to other cities. The first nonstop flights beyond California were United Boeing 727s to Denver in 1979 and to Chicago O'Hare in 1980. United ceased mainline jet service to SBA in 1990. Shuttle by United, a division of United Airlines (later renamed United Shuttle) flew Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s to San Francisco in the 1990s and early 2000s. United then turned all service over to SkyWest Airlines which now operates as United Express. Service was originally on Embraer 120 aircraft to SFO and LAX and CRJ200 to Denver. This was later turned over to a mix of SkyWest CRJ200, CRJ700, and E175. On June 8, 2017 United resumed seasonal mainline service to San Francisco and Denver. Beginning July 6, 2020, United will resume service to Chicago-O'Hare, as a red-eye, using a Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80s started flying to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1984, some on a triangle route DFW-Burbank-SBA-DFW or DFW-Bakersfield-SBA-DFW. American also flew MD-80s to Chicago O'Hare via Ontario. After American Airlines dropped mainline service to SBA, American Eagle Airlines, its affiliate, began flying Saab 340Bs and later Embraer ERJ-140s between SBA and LAX. American Eagle flew Canadair CRJ-700s between SBA and DFW until April 2009. The airline flew SBA-LAX until November 14, 2012 when SkyWest Airlines (American Eagle) took over with Canadair CRJ-200s. American Eagle suspended its flights to Los Angeles on March 31, 2014, ending American Airlines service at the airport. With the merger of US Airways and American, American Airlines returned to SBA with nonstop American Eagle regional jet service to Phoenix. In June 2016 American Eagle relaunched nonstop service to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) on Mesa Airlines Canadair CRJ-900s.[10] On April 4, 2017 American Airlines began a seasonal mainline Airbus A319 flight to DFW, the first mainline service since 2015 when Frontier Airlines left Santa Barbara. In September 2019, the DFW flights have been replaced with two daily Envoy Air E-175's but will upgauge both to A319 aircraft for Summer 2020.

Alaska-owned regional airline Horizon Air was the first Alaska affiliate to connect SBA with Seattle and Portland, flying Canadair CRJ-700s. From 2008 to 2010, Horizon also connected Santa Barbara non-stop to Sacramento and direct to Portland and/or Seattle. In 2011 Skywest Airlines took over the Horizon Canadair CRJ-700 jets and later replaced them with Embraer E175s, replacing Horizon for all Alaska-branded flying into Santa Barbara and continues to operate flights via a capacity purchase agreement with Alaska Airlines. From June 15, 2017 to August 26, 2017, Horizon returned to Santa Barbara by taking over the Seattle route from SkyWest with its own Embraer E175s. On August 27, 2017 Alaska Airlines began mainline service to Santa Barbara for the first time when it took over the Seattle route from Horizon with its own Boeing 737s.

Sun Country Airlines served Santa Barbara twice weekly between August and December to Minneapolis/St. Paul on Boeing 737s. Service began on August 16, 2018, and ended on December 9, 2018. On May 22, 2019, Sun Country resumed seasonal service with an increase to four times a week for the 2019 season. At the end of the 2019 season, Sun Country has indicated that they do not plan to return in 2020.

Frontier Airlines flew to Denver until 2015 with the Embraer E-190 and Airbus A319/320. After a multi-year hiatus, Frontier resumed service on August 21, 2018 with three times a week year-round service to Denver on the Airbus A320. In November 2019, they went seasonal and planned to return in 2020. Due to COVID-19, no new date has been announced for resumption of service.

Contour Airlines began service on October 16, 2018. They fly daily to Oakland International Airport and ten times a week to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport using a fleet of 30-seat ERJ-135s. Contour recently announced an expansion of Santa Barbara as a focus city, and added a flight to Sacramento International Airport in April 2019. Contour ended all service on March 31, 2020; terminated all contracts with employees and the airport.[11][12]

Delta Air Lines began three daily flights to Salt Lake City International Airport in August 2019, via Delta Connection partner SkyWest. The flights are operated with ERJ-175 aircraft.[13] However, because of COVID-19, the airline will suspend the service effective July 8, 2020.[14]

In the 1980s Santa Barbara-based Apollo Airways, a commuter airline which subsequently changed its name to Pacific Coast Airlines, flew Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream propjets from the airport with nonstop service to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose, CA, Monterey, Fresno and Bakersfield with direct flights to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.[15] Another locally based airline was Connectair operating Fairchild F-27J turboprops with nonstop flights to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Jose, CA.[16] Both air carriers are no longer in existence.

Pacific Air Lines flew Boeing 727-100s to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Monterey, Continental Airlines Boeing 737-300s flew nonstop to Denver (some flights stopped at Bakersfield enroute to SBA), Air West (later renamed Hughes Airwest) Boeing 727-100s, Douglas DC-9-10s, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s flew to Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities, Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-80s flew to Las Vegas, Pacific Express BAC One-Elevens flew to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Bakersfield, Air Wisconsin (United Express) BAe 146-200s and BAe 146-300s flew to Denver, and ExpressJet flew Embraer ERJ-145s nonstop to Sacramento and San Diego.

A number of commuter air carriers served Santa Barbara over the years primarily with turboprop aircraft. In 1968, Cable Commuter Airlines was operating de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter service to LAX.[17] Cable Commuter was then acquired by Golden West Airlines which in turn began operating high frequency shuttle service to LAX with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 and Short 330 aircraft.[18] According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), by 1981 Golden West was the only airline operating scheduled service between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles with fourteen round trip flights on weekdays. Other commuter air carriers that served SBA with turboprop aircraft in later years included America West Express, American Eagle operated by Wings West, Dash Air, Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines, Imperial Airlines, Sun Aire Lines, United Express operated by West Air and later by SkyWest Airlines, USAir Express and successor US Airways Express operated by Trans States Airlines and StatesWest Airlines.[19] According to the OAG, turboprop aircraft operated into SBA by these commuter airlines included the Beechcraft 1900C, British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31, de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8, Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia, Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II and Metro III models), Saab 340B and Short 360. In addition, Air Resorts operated Convair 440 prop aircraft on flights to LAX in 1983.[20]

Alaska Airlines serves Seattle with the Boeing 737. Portland is operated using E-175s operated by Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines. Due to COVID-19, the Seattle flight is now flown on a SkyWest E-175 and Portland will resume service July 1, 2020 with a stop in Santa Rosa, CA.

American Airlines serves Phoenix with American Airbus A319s, Mesa CRJ-900s, SkyWest CRJ-700s. Dallas-Fort Worth is served with American A319s, Envoy Air E-175s, and Mesa CRJ-900s.

Contour Airlines serves Las Vegas, Oakland, and Sacramento using the Embraer 135. All flights are currently suspended due to COVID-19.

Delta Air Lines serves Salt Lake City using SkyWest Embraer E-175s. Due to COVID-19, service will be suspended as of July 8, 2020.

Frontier Airlines serves Denver seasonally with the Airbus A320. Due to COVID-19, their seasonal return has been suspended and no new date for service has been announced.

United Airlines serves Los Angeles with a mix of SkyWest CRJ-200/CRJ-700/E-175 regional jets. United serves San Francisco and Denver with a mix of SkyWest CRJ-200/CRJ-700/E-175s and United Airbus A319/320 aircraft. Beginning August 3, 2020, United will resume mainline service to Chicago-O'Hare using a Boeing 737-700. Due to COVID-19, flights to Los Angeles are suspended.